Installing Matt's Random Link Generator

If you've got a multitude of links and not enough space to display
them all, how about using Matt's Random Link generator to mix it
up a bit? This script randomly selects a URL from a database file
within your web site and displays the URL link from your web page.
Each time your web page loads a different link appears.

Installation Procedure

Locate and download the following files from <a
href="http://www.worldwidemart.com/scripts/">Matt's Script Archive:

rand_link.pl - The Perl script which generates the random
link.

Change the first line of the Perl script to reflect the official
path to Perl on our server:

#!/usr/local/bin/perl

* Note: This is required since the application
is written in Perl.

There are a few more things that need to be changed in the Perl
script:

# Define Variables
$linkfile = The system path to the database containing the URLs.

The system path is not the same as a URL. If your domain name
was yourdomain.com the system path would be /u/web/yourdo where
"yourdo" is the account userID.

As such, the Define Variables section of the Links script would
follow this format:

# Set Variables $linkfile = "/u/web/<userid>/database.txt";

Be sure to substitute your domain name and userID in the example
above. Although Matt's code is accurate, we recommend using
the Perl Script Checker within your account Control Panel when
installing any Perl script.

Upload the "rand_link.pl" script to your cgi-local
directory in ASCII transfer mode. Cgi-local will place the appropriate
permissions on files uploaded to this directory so you do NOT
need to chmod 755 the Perl script.

Create the database.txt file which contains the URL links
and upload it to your root ("home") directory in ASCII
transfer mode. Make one column of URLs and be sure to use absolute
paths (e.g. http://www.randomsite.com). If desired, this script
can be used in conjunction with the database file maintained by
Matt's Free For All Link script.